Future directions for intelligent packaging

International names in retailing joined more than 300 attendees at the recent Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry (AIPI) World Congress, enough for 2016 to be marked a ‘breakthrough’ year for technologies putting new powers into the hands of brand owners, altering their perceptions of what packaging is and will become – an industry of tools for communication, quality control and shelf life extension.

Knowing the consumer
Knowledge is power, and smart packaging and smartphone together give brand owners a direct line to understanding what the consumer wants and how they behave. General Mills brands have participated in a pilotQR digital labelling programme sponsored by the US grocery industry, and Kraft Heinz is exploring ‘frictionless’ tools to give mobile shoppers easier access to in-store promotions and improve customer insight data.

But the connected package and frictionless interaction comes at a high cost and, depending on the underlying job to be done, smart thinking might do the trick.

“Smart packaging can be zero-tech,” says Tom Lawrie-Fussey, Congress keynote speaker and leader of business development at Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP). For example, printing a picture of a flatscreen TV on a bicycle box saved a savvy Dutch company losses through damage in distribution of 70 to 80%. The boxes are similar in size and, as VanMoof predicted, shippers handle a TV with more care.

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